I have been itching for the past few weeks to get some sourdough starter growing again. I had a great starter shortly after DW and I got married, but it went bad after being neglected when we moved out of the apartment we were living in.

Unable to resist the urge to scratch, I succumbed to the itch, and this is the story.

First of all, if you want to know anything about sourdough, please check out Mike Avery's Sourdough Home. It is a VERY informative site with instructions, recipes, tips and tricks, and referrals to suppliers if you really want to go nuts.

When I got into baking, I talked DW into letting me get a grain mill attachment for our KitchenAid. Avery suggests that raw whole wheat flour is best for getting a starter going due to its naturally high levels of microorganisms.

Once the flour was ground, I had everything I needed. You'll never believe just how simple it is to make sourdough starter.

First Step:

Mix 3/8 cups of whole wheat flour with 1/4 cups of water. Cover it, and let it sit for 12 hours.
Second Step:

Mix 3/8 cups of whole wheat flour and 1/4 cups of water into the starter. Cover it, and let it sit for 12 hours.
At this point, the starter has started to show signs of life. The mass of wheat paste has grown to double its original size and has lots of bubbles.
Third Step:

Mix 3/8 cups of whole wheat flour and 1/4 cups of water into the starter. Cover it, and let it sit for 12 hours . . . and keep doing this.

Once the starter begins growing on its own, you'll need to start pulling some out of it. Avery points out that once the starter starts doubling with each feeding, it will very quickly grow to fill an Olympic sized swimming pool. Now, I can't say that isn't an exaggeration, but, I am not going to test it.

Anyways, once the starter starts growing it is important to shift from whole wheat flour to an all-purpose flour. The reasoning is that all-purpose flour, being more processed, has lower microorganism levels. To ensure the success of the starter, you have to limit competition among the microorganisms that make it grow and give it flavor. So, the "cleaner" all-purpose flour will feed the bacteria/yeast in the starter without making them compete for dominance.

Now, I must admit, my starter hasn't quite matured yet, so it isn't entirely ready for use. But, once it does, I will post some pictures.

Once the transition is made, the daily feedings will be 3/8 cups of all-purpose flour and 1/4 cups water. It should double with each feeding. If you will be away for a few days, it will sit happily in the refrigerator until you get home and feed it again.

I am really a fan of Mark Avery's San Francisco Sourdough and Pizza Crusts. In fact, we're planning on having homemade pizza for dinner tonight.

. . . all I can say is that the last month has been VERY difficult. But, I am still here.

Jeremy

This post is a continuation of The Deodorant Challenge: Part 2.

So it has been two months since the last Deodorant Challenge update, and for good reason. It took me two months to get through that last recipe. And frankly I liked it!

As a brief review, the first recipe I tried was a mix of baking soda and talc (baby powder). While it generally held the odor at bay, it became very unpleasant in stressful situations — when it broke down and not only failed to stop the odor, but contributed to terrible chaffing.

So, I found a slightly different recipe that replaced the talc with corn starch. Here is Recipe #2:

• 1/2 cup baking soda
• 1/2 cup corn starch
• 10 drops tea tree oil
• 5 drops lavender essential oil
• 5 drops lemon grass essential oil

This recipe has been a vast improvement over the first. I just ran out a couple days ago and decided to extend the trial of this version. Here are a couple things I noticed.

Recipe #2 seemed to last a little longer, not that I do it all the time, but after 2 days the odor would still be bearable. I never chaffed. And, still no discoloration of my clothes.

I thought that the scent was a bit off to me. So, I made a little modification to the recipe to suit my likes a bit better. I swapped out the lemongrass oil for patchouli oil and doubled the dose. So, the new recipe looks like this:

• 1/2 cup baking soda
• 1/2 cup corn starch
• 10 drops tea tree oil
• 10 drops patchouli essential oil
• 5 drops lavender essential oil

I know, patchouli is for hippies. But honestly, it just took the edge off the scent and made it a little more earthy.

The application method is still a bit messy, but I've got it down a bit better and it isn't as big a hassle as it was a couple months ago. Also, I noticed my skin has darkened in color a bit. Not sure what causes that, but nobody sees it and it isn't in anyway uncomfortable. I am not too worried.

So, I will give Recipe #2 one more try and if it all goes well, I may have found MY solution, otherwise, it's back to the drawing board.

Since I am still way overstocked, you might say, with rabbits, today will be another meat processing day. So, in the spirit of the day, I thought I'd share our family's favorite rabbit recipe (to date). I call it:

Mexican Rabbit Over Rice

1-2 fryer rabbits, disjointed
2 cups Jeremy's Blender Salsa
1-2 8oz. cans V-8 (preference)
1 15oz. can diced tomatoes
1/2 medium onion, diced
1 bulb garlic, sliced
1/2 jalapeño diced fine
1 sweet green pepper diced
1-1/2 Tbsp chili powder
1 Tbsp ground cumin
1-1/2 Tbsp granulated garlic
Salt to taste
Cayenne pepper to taste

2-3 cups white rice
4-6 cups water

Optional:
2 medium red potatoes cubed

Add all ingredients, except spices, to an adequately-sized crock pot and stir well to ensure good distribution of the liquid and solid ingredients. Heat on high for 3 hours (this should be a low boil through the duration) stirring occasionally. If you add potatoes, I would suggest adding them at about the 2 hour mark.

At 3 hours, check the rabbit, it should fall easily from the bone. If it resists, continue cooking for another 15-20 minutes and check again. Repeat until the meat will fall from the bone with a light tug. Once the rabbit is done (no more than 4 hours), turn off the crock pot, add spices (salt and cayenne to taste) and still well. Cover and let set while you make the rice.

For the rice, bring twice as much water as rice to a boil (i.e. 4 cups water for 2 cups rice). Add rice and reduce to a simmer. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Once all water is cooked off, remove from heat.

Serve rabbit and sauce over the rice.

Serves 4-6

I thought it would be appropriate to add an update on [Baby Girl] Cowan. She'll be 8 weeks old on Sunday and has been growing like crazy. While she has been getting a little chubbier, like most babies do, she is definitely getting taller as well.

We track her weight at home in a fashion similar to the rabbits. In fact we use the same bucket and hang her in the scale. She doesn't seem to mind, in fact, if I had to guess I'd say she enjoys the bunny bucket. Her last "official weigh-in" was last week when she tipped the scale at 11 lbs. 6 oz.. If I were a betting man, I'd put her over 12 lbs. today.

We have discovered a few of her talents already. She is quite an accomplished hand-sitter. This will keep her happy almost as long as a good feeding.
She's already identified her favorite piece of furniture in the house (a Freecycled piece I might add). This bouncy chair seems to please and relax her like no other.
Isn't funny how new parents often enjoy their babies most when they are asleep. It's not that we don't love her all the time, but it is SOOO much easier when she looks like this.
[Baby Girl] has been such a joyous addition to our family. It is hard to believe that 8 weeks have passed, as they say, time flies. We've had challenging moments (last night was probably the worst), and we've had moments that we wished would last forever. She's definitely melted my heart.

I always feel a little weird calling it a homestead when we are, in fact, renting. But, we've got a bit of a garden and the rabbits. So, I don't know. I could call it the yard, but it doesn't have the same ring to it.

Anyways, a brief survey of our holdings revealed a few new sights I thought were worth sharing.

First, these little darlings are actually bearers of bad news. This half of the litter are what we call blue torts (short for tortoise-shell). They were born of a test breeding, which, unfortunately, the mother failed. She will soon be worked out of our breeding program.

Next, moving a couple cages over, I was pleased to find (only) 3, healthy, beautiful blue babies born to a white mother. There were 6 in all, but only 3 survived. The blues from the white momma is a VERY good sign.
Third, down in the garden (which we got in the ground very late this year), We have ears of corn starting to throw silk.
Fourth, the tomatoes are starting to flower.
Fifth, where our Brandywines had been stripped of leaves, we find new hope in new leaves.
And finally, our orange trees are heavy laden with fruit and set to ripen any day.
So, things are looking good for now. Though, I'll have to post about the grass, that's another story altogether.

This summer has been a rare treat. Since I separated from their mother in 2004 I haven't had my boys for more than a weekend with only one exception. However, this summer, we finally agreed to follow our custody order and the boys have spent every other week with us.

It has been a lot of fun. One of the boys' favorite things to do is spend time at DW's parents' house . . . for one simple reason — the POOL!

Although owning and maintaining a pool wouldn't fit anywhere near my list of simple living amenities, when it's someone else's pool, you won't see me turning down an invite.

On the simpler side, another activity the boys enjoy doing with us is hiking.
My other blog, the Daily Ambler, though it has been a bit neglected, highlights some of the fun I've been having lately out on the trails. The boys and I have also been camping this summer and gone tubing down the San Luis Rey River at the La Jolla Indian Reservation - that is one trip that broke the bank, but we don't need to go there.

One of the most exciting things we'll do this summer comes thanks to my dad. A long time youth football official, my dad came across discounted tickets to the San Diego Charger's game this weekend.
Even at $19 per ticket they are outside of our budget. But, thanks to a benevolent father, the boys and I will get to watch the Chargers defend their home turf against a Seattle Seahawk invasion. Go Bolts!

The bottom line is that it is entirely possible to have fun as a family without going out on a financial limb. I am hoping to take the family camping, maybe to Yosemite before the end of the year. We'll road trip and save money by using food storage for meals. What kind of things has your family done this summer to have fun while still trying to save money?

I was on my way to Home Depot the other day with a couple things on my list. One of them - twine.

I needed something to tie up my tomatoes in our little garden box. I figured that jute twine would be a great way to go - it is mage of natural fibers, it's biodegradable, and it doesn't look too bad.

However, while wandering the aisles at Home Depot, and this gets me in more trouble than I should admit, I had an epiphany. We'd been discussing the idea of the Compact quite a bit and I thought, "What else do I have that I could use?"

The answer hit me like a bale of hay. Actually that's what hit me, bales of hay. They come wrapped in a string. Unfortunately, the string on the bales I get are nylon and therefore normally bound for the landfill. But, I thought what a way to reuse something that otherwise would have a short life span.

With the rabbitry in full swing, we tend to go through a bale or two a month. I am sure that three 10-foot cords a month would keep pace with our growing tomatoes.

So that's what I did. Those strings will get to enjoy another 3-4 month's of meaningful existence, and I will get to enjoy another $2-3 and the satisfaction of knowing that I did my small share to help reduce waste this week.